Handkerchiefs for the Chinese

 Handkerchiefs for the Chinese 

   FLORENCE ROCHESTER was a secretary in the attorney general’s office at Topeka, Kansas. But Mrs. Rochester needed more money. To appease both the need for more cash and to do something more artistic than copy legal briefs, she began making dainty little lace handkerchiefs in her spare time. She found a ready sale for them among her friends. She spent as much time as necessary to turn out just the kind of handkerchiefs she liked, bought as expensive material as she wanted, and charged for the handkerchiefs accordingly. That was back in 1926. It was not long before these friends began showing their handkerchiefs to their friends. The demand for Rochester handkerchiefs grew. Before she realized it, Mrs. Rochester was in the handkerchief business! When orders began to pile up and she no longer was able to make the handkerchiefs and hold her regular job, she talked over the matter with her husband, a civil engineer for a railroad company, and he advised her to quit her job and concentrate on handkerchiefs. She did. She saw that if she built up the business she now was determined to have, she must sell to stores rather than depend on sales direct. She called on two near-by department stores with samples. She sold orders to both. She went back home and opened her “factory” in her own home. It was the same old story of the world beating a path to the door of the person with quality merchandise—except that Mrs. Rochester did not wait for this path to be beaten. She went out and told merchants about her handkerchiefs. Today Mrs. Rochester not only sells handkerchiefs to merchants in every state in the country except three, but to foreign countries as well. Foreign orders grew so fast she opened a branch factory abroad to expedite export business. 

Start a Pie Bakery 

   FIVE years ago in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the John Mayers started a pie bakery. If you want to buy cake, cookies, bread or doughnuts, you have to go elsewhere to make your purchases; the Mayers’ idea was to do one thing superlatively well and they have succeeded in baking pies that are good enough to keep people coming back for more. The market for their pies consists of hotels, restaurants and the near-by summer resorts. Quite a few are sold direct to consumers at thirty-five cents a pie. The usual demand in any American community for good pie has enabled the Mayers to build up a profitable business, keep up a nice home which they own, have a car, and provide a comfortable living. There is a limitless market for pies as practically every other man who enters a restaurant orders pie even though he knows it may not be particularly good. Just why there are so few good pie bakers in a country where dessert generally means “pie,” is one of the great unsolved mysteries. There is really no competition for the person who has the knack of baking pies like those “mother used to make.” 

$100 per Month with Felt Work 

   RUTH G. JONES , a widow living in San Antonio, needed money and needed it quickly. She had had no commercial or business experience of any kind prior to her marriage; she had no special ability or talent. What could she do? One day she heard the son of a friend complain that he was unable to find anyone who could cut out letters properly and sew them on his baseball uniform. That gave Mrs. Jones an idea. She investigated and found that none of the sporting goods stores in the city had equipment for furnishing this service. There was, she found, a little shop that did this felt work so she went over and had a talk with the proprietor. The outcome was that she took over the shop, equipped it properly, and went out after business. The only experience Mrs. Jones had had in cutting or designing felt was when she cut out a few pennants for herself and friends at college. Yet with a modern sewing machine, a pair of good shears, some sharp razor blades and a small assortment of felt, she was ready for business. She called on all the sporting goods dealers and sporting goods departments in the city. She told the managers about her service and asked them to cooperate with her, pointing out that they would be rendering their customers a service by sending them to a place which was equipped to design and sew on any sort of letters or emblems wanted on uniforms. Most of the dealers simply send the uniform purchasers to Mrs. Jones and the transaction thereafter is entirely between her and the uniform owners. However, one or two stores prefer to deal with her direct and make a small margin on the deal. The best season for the little shop, of course, is just prior to opening of the baseball season; but there is always some work to be done on swimming suits and both basketball and football create some business. Sweater emblems and letters contribute to year-round volume. With an investment of less than $100, Mrs. Jones earns on an average of $100 per month the year round, with peak months going to about $150. She believes the idea would be good in any city where there is no such shop, or where there is no uniform factory which provides this service.